Three Issues in Law Department Talent Management

The Graying of Law Departments

The first issue is the phenomenon we refer to as the 'graying' of law departments. For several years, many law departments have remained approximately the same size, with their incumbent lawyers becoming more senior, yet doing essentially the same work. Aging law departments bring with them a set of challenges for talent managers. Senior lawyers are often very good in a certain field of law, performing legal tasks the way and at about the same level as they have for years. There's a comfort zone that they've achieved in their level of expertise, and unless challenged to become more efficient or learn new areas, the benefits derived from increasing compensation based on years of service diminish over time. It's particularly difficult because these lawyers see their peers in private practice earning increasingly higher levels of compensation as they move into senior partnership positions. The answer of many law departments is training their lawyers, investing in technological tools that increase their productivity, and using outside counsel more for commodity work. Just because they're senior doesn't mean that they aren't subject to some of the same kinds of training that many of the junior lawyers need for career development.